Sex can bring with it a lot of emotions. Whether it’s your first time, or you have done it before, you need to make sure it’s something you enjoy and do safely.

Wearing a condom each and every time you have sex is one of the best ways to ensure you have fun during sex and greatly reduces your chance of getting a sexually transmitted infection (STI).

Mistakes can happen – this is OK, as long as we know all the facts about HIV and other STIs. Getting ourselves checked out regularly is the best thing we can do for our sexual health.

Read a selection of different stories about people’s experiences with sex and STIs.

If you have your own story to tell, you can share it with us here and we'll do our best to publish it. Just let us know if you’d like to remain anonymous.

Photos are used for illustrative purposes. They do not imply the health status or behaviour on the part of the people in the photo.